Southern California -- this just in

Murder case against pro tennis referee took months to develop

August 23, 2012 | 6:42
pm

Authorities originally believed that the husband of a well-known pro tennis referee died of natural causes last spring, court records revealed Thursday.

But on the eve of his cremation, a perfunctory
check at the mortuary triggered a series of stunning revelations: The
man had been beaten to death, the murder weapon was a coffee cup, and the prime suspect was his widow.

New details
about how authorities came to believe the death of Alan Goodman was a
homicide emerged Thursday, two days after the arrest of his wife, Lois, a
prominent tennis umpire who was taken into custody in New York as she
prepared to officiate at the U.S. Open.

Police
who were called to the couple's Woodland Hills home April 17 found a blood trail
leading to his body and severe wounds on his head. But officers accepted
a theory advanced by his wife that he had fallen down the stairs before
crawling into his bed.

"Some of the evidence matched her story," Lt. David Storacker said.

She
told officers that she had been at Pierce College for six hours when
she returned home and "observed a broken coffee mug on the floor which
was covered in blood," according to an affidavit signed by a Los Angeles
police detective.

"She discovered her husband laying in bed. He
was covered in blood and did not appear to be breathing," Det. Jeffrey
Briscoe wrote.

Two paramedics pronounced Alan Goodman dead and
told their police counterparts about an "oddly shaped cut to the right
side of the head," Briscoe wrote. "Firefighters advised Officers that
scene appeared suspicious and left the body undisturbed."

But
after learning of the octogenarian's various medical maladies and
consulting with the coroner's office, police determined there was no
crime and allowed Lois Goodman to transfer his body to a mortuary
without an autopsy. It was at Heritage Crematory on April 20 that a
coroner's investigator, sent to sign the death certificate, noted the
multiple cuts on Alan Goodman's head and ears.

The "deep penetrating blunt force trauma ... was consistent with being impacted with a sharp object," Briscoe wrote.

His
observations launched a homicide investigation. An autopsy revealed
shards of the coffee cup in the wounds. A search warrant executed April
21 turned up blood throughout the home "inconsistent with accidental
death," Briscoe wrote. Stains on carpets, the refrigerator door, inside a
linen closet and on the wall leading to the garage suggested "a mobile
victim" who, police theorized, would have called for help.